Noah's Arc In Kazakhstan?

Noah's Arc in Kazakhstan?

A rather unusual construction site is located in Southern Kazakhstan
region, by the foothills of the mountain Kazigurt, along the
Chimkent-Tashkent freeway.

A monument of the Noah's Arc is being erected there. According
to the local legend, the Biblical prophet has moored to this particular
place, aside from the Mount Ararat.

While not denying the official version of the Great Flood, local
authorities decided to use the legend in a rather practical way.

I have been told the legend of the Mount Kazigurt by Chimkentsky
journalists during my recent trip to the Kazakh-Uzbek border.

Mount Kazigurt is 1776 meters high. It is situated in Northern
spurs of the entire complex of Talassky Alatau. Local residents
have always considered the Mount sacred. According to the legend,
Nukh-Baygambara (as Kazakhs call Noah) has moored to this particular
region a long time ago.

Kazakh historians and archaeologists have never taken the legend
seriously. Numerous poets however have been constantly attempting
to explore the truth hidden in it. Authorities of the Southern
Kazakhstan decided to focus their attention at the practical aspect
of the myth.

"Taking into account the actual ethnographic value of this
material, regional authorities decided to not only satisfy interest
of the aksakals but to derive certain practical benefits as well," commented
press secretary of the regional administration Kenes Ismailov.

24 million tenge [local currency] (more than 165,000 USD) have
been allotted from the regional budget for construction of a tourist
complex "Kazigurt." A multileveled observation site is
being constructed along a narrow freeway Chimkent-Tashkent, right
at the foothills of the Mount Kazigurt. Its peak will be crowned
with the Noah"s Arc. One can observe the mountain
and witness a magnificent view of endless Kazakh steppes from here.
The observation facility will also include several restaurants
and souvenir shops.

Authorities expect that Kazigurt's surroundings to appear quite
attractive to numerous tourists worldwide. However, nobody is trying
to disprove the initial story regarding the Biblical prophet's
travels.

"An attempt to provide scientific evidence in order to prove
existence of the Bible or the Talmud appears to be rather absurd.
Nobody here is trying to prove or disprove anything. It isn't our
main goal to make everyone aware of the fact that Noah did in fact
moor to the mount Kazigurt. Besides, we don't even know the exact
date of the Great Flood," states Kenes Ismailov.

Journalist Marat Absementov recalls the first time he heard the
legend of the mount Kazigurt. It happened 20 years ago. "I
heard how two men, an Armenian and a Kazakh, arguing about the
exact location of the Arc's mooring. The Kazakh was from Kazigurt.
They turned to me with a plea to be their judge to announce the
final verdict. So I said to the Armenian, 'Have you ever seen airplanes
flying above Ararat?' 'Yes,' answered he. 'No airplanes fly near
Kazugurt,' I said in return. Pilots observe some sort of magnetic
anomaly in that region, which causes all controls in their airplanes
to malfunction."

Perhaps, there is some truth to the words of the locals regarding
some supernatural powers of the mountain.